Ashy-note I'm probably a speck of dust in the GAFFN world and I'm probably one insane (no, wait, I really am insane) writer, so bear with me. This one's really short, and I also really do hope you get the "thing" at the end. If you don't, well… that means I've done a good job at least in keeping you at it for a few seconds. Or minutes. Or hours. Or days.
This one's a solid SumireKoko.
-:|:-
To the Stranger Romeo
Prose Vanity
It was Valentine's Day at Alice High. More to the point of celebration, his English class took it a notch higher, by asking them, his students, to write Valentine's messages for their loved ones. Mothers, father, sisters, brothers, cousins, or any blood relatives were disqualified for the position. Which only means they were, quite scandalously, as the activity would take place in the school auditorium, going to declare undying love for someone inside the school as well.
This was one thing about English that Koko hated well.
Sure, he was good at plays and scripts roll off his tongue quite easily and the power of his speech was too well, but at least those were just make-believe. This one is real, for crying out loud! This one just happens to be SERIOUS stuff! And it doesn't help, either, that Narumi, and the entire student body in general,were just waiting for his turn at the Speaker's Podium, dying to know who his lucky girl is.
"—to know of the violence of my affection for thee, my beloved Anna…"
His teacher, Narumi, rolled his eyes and smiled beamingly. "Extremely pompous and corny, Mochiage, but well done!"
The crowd clapped along, and Koko seized the opportunity to look around: he saw Mikan, Natsume, Ruka, Hotaru, and Nonoko… and then he saw green.
His heart jumped to his throat at the sight and he cricked his neck from having turned it around so fast. Rubbing it gently with his left hand, he smoothed out his speech with his right and he raised his eyes in time to see how Mochu clambered clumsily down the stage and kissed Anna's head of pink, pink hair.
Vaguely he recalled having some sort of crush on Anna.
"Koko? It's your turn, dear," Narumi told him. He heaved a deep sigh, and with a small curse ("Sh—crap,") he went up the stage. The claps were defeaning.
He took one sweeping gaze at the crowd, which then silenced at once. That was the power of him.
Then his eyes lingered for a fraction of a second longer on the girl with a head of dark green.
He cleared his throat and began.
"He was the Stranger Romeo."
Narumi shifted in his seat and put his chin on his knuckles, a sign of complete concentration.
"He had always only looked at her from afar, admired her from a distance. Because even after years and years of being holed up together inside the same school, he never had the guts in him to tell her the truth. He never found in him the strength to actually face her and say things to her… Nope. Nadda. Never. Zee-roe."
The crowd laughed a little at his emphasis of the zero, and though he laughed a little himself, he plowed on seamlessly.
"Because aside from the fact that she was his senior, he was also one of the most unknown kids in school. He doubted she'd even know of his existence, or that he was the kid she once saved in first grade, or that he was the kid she screamed at, telling him to smile all the time."
That statement was a dead giveaway. He was sure she knew it was her by those lines, so his gaze avoided hers as he continued to make eye contact with the crowd.
He didn't really need his copy, he's got it all memorized by heart.
"This Romeo, well… he had many nevers.
"Never knew how to tell her. Never could even get anywhere near her, for that matter. Never saw anything that could recommend himself to her. Never could look her in the eye. Never got the courage to talk to her about the deeper things. Never really moved on from his affection from her. Call it fixation. Outrageous obsession morphed into this hideous desire and want for her warmth. Yeah, that was over-the-top corny, so you can all laugh now.
"And… aside from the nevers, he had many didn'ts and wasn'ts too.
"Didn't play sports—a fail, actually. When he kicks the ball, he ends up kicking himself. Wasn't top of the class—unless you write the list upside down. Didn't like social circles—unlike her, who always seemed to be the first to know all mainstream news. Wasn't handsome to a fault—because to her, the epitome of the word "handsome" would only have to be the Natsume Hyuuga himself."
The crowd broke into an appreciative giggle and he saw Natsume roll his eyes. He smiled a little then cleared his throat, then the muttering hushed.
"He also didn't have much cash—in fact, more than once he could really swear his own money ran out of his pockets. Cash seemed so reluctant to come anywhere close to him… mostly they stayed clear of his wallet. Some just run away. Most are dragged out. The rest just kill themselves."
Another roar of laughter from the crowd; Mikan was giggling in Natsume's chest, and she was shaking so much that even Natsume seemed to shake as well.
"Actually, if anyone could sum up all the things he's ever been or ever will be, one could say much. He's a poet. He's an actor. He's a brilliant writer… but he's actually a lonely boy who's been pining for someone since God-knows-when.
"It is an unrequited love, he knows that, he absolutely knows that, but somehow, he has this small sliver of hope lingering in himself. Ridiculous, isn't it? Well, sorry folks. That's what happens when you hang around too much with Mikan Sakura, the personification of Sunshine herself. And if you want proof, well, it's proof enough that a while ago, in his speech, Natsume Hyuuga sounded so resolutely full of love bugs and twirling flowers and muck, and that, my dear friends, is the influence of that girl.
"This Romeo would not want to mention the name of his Juliet" —the crowd groaned; Narumi smiled a Cheshire cat's smile— "but one thing is for sure: this speech could only end up with two things: either she finds out and kicks me somewhere where it hurts, or you'll see us walking together down the corridors.
Ladies and gentlemen, this Stranger Romeo has just declared his passion, his ardent love, for his one and only Juliet."
The defeaning applause that followed his closing words were roaring, and as he gazed one final time at the audience, he finally found it in him to linger his brown eyes on her jade ones.
She looked furious. His stomach suddenly twisted into pretzeled-pretzels.
-;-
He lay idly on his bed, turning a small green envelope in his hands, mulling over the choice of whether to open it or not. He was rather nervous, because he knows all the possibilities of what someone could say about him, and yet he wonders what this one held.
From your clandestine Juliet.
That was what was written on the front of the letter he had received from her just yesterday, right after dismissal, hours after his little speech.
He had been in and over his head trying to mull it over, and all he could find was the fact that he was an insufferable coward for not wanting to open it, but he could say he wasn't one to blame!
Okay, so maybe he was. That little speech yesterday might have been too much.
But still!
Taking a deep, deep breath, he slid a finger underneath the flap and tore it open, pulling out a piece of plain white paper scented with something distinctly her.
—Too.
There it was, that weird word, on the first fold of the letter.
He unraveled the mystery and read on.
"To the Stranger Romeo," it said.
"I hear it clearly, you know. I may be deaf to the music of the Earth, but not to the harem in your heart—I have never been. I can hear it, practically screaming bloody murder at me. You say nothing let slip nothing, but it all makes me hear it louder. You're not kidding anyone, you know. Not the blind, nor the deaf. The blind can clearly see your attempts. The deaf can clearly hear your hidden affections.
"But one thing, though, dear Romeo—it's practically written all over your face, in large, flashing Neon lights that rival Vegas, in huge childish letters bordered by a strong radiating glow too big to escape anyone's notice. And besides, it's not like you can hide much from me. After all these years, I know you in and out. I remember everything, you idiot of a Romeo. So those accusations you held against me in your speech in English, wasn't true.
"I could never have forgotten your existence, not when you pushed me into a pool the first time we met. So unlike a Romeo and Juliet scene.
"So the thing is, I know. I know what you feel. I know you do, I know you'd do anything. I know you love me.
"I really, really do—"
And he smiled when he folded the letter back in its place, staring at the one word written on the first flap again.
Took you long enough…
He rolled over in his bed and laughed. And laughed. And laughed some more until all the air was knocked out of his system from too much euphoria.
And yet again he laughed some more, it almost felt like he was going crazy or something along the lines of it.
One word resonated in his head.
Finally.
I do hope you got it. HAHA. If you didn't, it means I'm terrible at mystery. XD
~Ash.